1. Dirt 3 Release Date

In the meantime XBOX and Forza have eaten their console lunch!Actually. They haven't. Sales of Forza Motorsport 5/6 were lower than Forza 4 as far as any of the tracking sites were able to show. In fact I think Gran Turismo 6, despite being released on PS3 after PS4 launch, sold more than Forza 5/6 combined.Forza Horizon has been selling better but it's not competing with Gran Turismo.

But in the meantime it was pCARS 1 which grabbed millions of sales especially on the Playstation platform as racers were stuck without GT. In the meantime XBOX and Forza have eaten their console lunch!Actually. They haven't.

Sales of Forza Motorsport 5/6 were lower than Forza 4 as far as any of the tracking sites were able to show. In fact I think Gran Turismo 6, despite being released on PS3 after PS4 launch, sold more than Forza 5/6 combined.Well, as far as I know, those stats are pretty suspect. And that is because you're talking about retail sales only, right? I don't know of any tracking sites that have any insight into the digital downloads from XBL.

So if you're just talking retail boxes, I would imagine that FM5 and 6 were both complete flops. Retail sales tend to be a bit more impulse or spontaneous. Even counting all the people here who routinely race in ForzArs. I don't know a single person who has bought a retail box of Forza Motorsport after FM4.

All were purchased and downloaded from XBox store. At this point, I just don't think Forza Motorsport is an impulse buy for anyone. Everyone knows what it is. And you know if it's something you want or not. Forza Horizon has been selling better but it's not competing with Gran Turismo. But in the meantime it was pCARS 1 which grabbed millions of sales especially on the Playstation platform as racers were stuck without GT.I would say pCARS can certainly thank the PlayStation and lack of GT for a lot of it's sales.

But I would question the assumption that pCARS has a larger base than Forza. According to Microsoft, themselves, there are currently 4 million active Forza drivers. (Played a Forza Motorsport or Horizon title in the past month.)All that said, the leaderboards still seem smaller than back in the heady days of Forza Motorsport 4. I remember reading an article a few months back about how physical sales are now only 25% of game sales, but I might have made an incorrect assumption about that being fairly even between franchises.Then again. Let's take this story:Let's say 10 million sales by now, spread over Forza Motorsport 5, 6, Horizon 2, 3.

I am fairly sure it will be 6 million minimum for Horizon, leaving 4 million for Motorsport on the Xbox One as a maximal value. Sony confirmed last year that GT6 broke 4 million sales by itself.So while I will grant that digital sales probably weigh higher on the current gen consoles, I still think GT6 has sold more than Forza Motorsport 5 and 6 combined. Well, there are many more PS3's than there are XBONE's in gamers houses not to mention most console owners with a racing wheel would likely have one PS3 compatible so it isn't altogether surprising that GT6 would sell well against Forza.However the XBOX platform has really seen its racing genre take off big time lately while the Sony side has pretty much stagnated IMO. Driveclub being the only moderately bright spot. PCARS & AC are on XBONE too as well as The Crew.GT6 was pretty much a warmed over GT5 and it took until late in the PS3's life for them to arrive, somewhat understandable perhaps given PS3's coding complexities, but that can hardly be an excuse for PS4 which is trivial to code for by comparison yet approaching 4 years from PS4 launch still no new GT yet.Turn10 have worked very hard and are getting rewarded for it. Polophony Digital appears to be asleep at the wheel by comparison.

Well, there are many more PS3's than there are XBONE's in gamers houses not to mention most console owners with a racing wheel would likely have one PS3 compatible so it isn't altogether surprising that GT6 would sell well against Forza.However the XBOX platform has really seen its racing genre take off big time lately while the Sony side has pretty much stagnated IMO. Driveclub being the only moderately bright spot. PCARS & AC are on XBONE too as well as The Crew.GT6 was pretty much a warmed over GT5 and it took until late in the PS3's life for them to arrive, somewhat understandable perhaps given PS3's coding complexities, but that can hardly be an excuse for PS4 which is trivial to code for by comparison yet approaching 4 years from PS4 launch still no new GT yet.Turn10 have worked very hard and are getting rewarded for it. Polophony Digital appears to be asleep at the wheel by comparison.I'm not disputing most of that: It's clear that PD are navel gazing and disconnected from the console market at the moment. In fact, I suspect GT Sport will have relatively niche appeal with the limited cars and focus on multiplayer although graphically the beta footage looks excellent and that alone will sell many PS4-Pro + 4k TVs. But what you are forgetting is that PD's largest market has always been Europe, and yet Xbox One sales in EU are still very poor compared to PS4 despite the lack of Gran Turismo.

The US is more even between PS4/XB1, but EU isn't and so Forza hasn't been a serious system seller over here.I'm just disputing whether Forza Motorsport has reaped any significant rewards from PD's absence: I believe instead that the Forza franchise is alive and healthy these days mostly through Forza Horizon. Competitors like Assetto Corsa and pCARS on the consoles have given many users a glimpse of what a proper track driving sim feels like, and it is having an effect.My biggest personal irritation with Forza series stems from the endemic oversteer and the lack of decent FFB. I love the car lists/collecting, car tuning, and the graphics, but as a wheel-only sim racer I find Forza games a much bigger step away from my usual PC sims than Gran Turismo. You always feel as a wheel user that you are a second-class citizen compared to the controller guys with Forza, and it stings because they could easily do so much better. The good news is that they now actually have a proper wheel guy involved in developing FM7, but we shall only see the results after release. I will buy the FM7 ultimate edition for PC if the signs are good, or skip it if we are likely to just get more of the same as the horrible FFB in FM6 Apex.Fun anecdote: Back in FM3 you could select 900 degrees wheel support, but if the car started to oversteer the game suddenly switched to 360 degrees of rotation, presumably due to some embedded controller-related driving aid.

This meant you could lazily flick the wheel a short distance and hold any slide in any car. I used to affectionately refer to it as enabling heroic driving mode. They've come on since then, but nowhere near as much as they should haveWhen the console community takes a look at the package on offer with pCARS 2 and compares it to GT Sport or FM7, it's going to be interesting to see which ones get the most critical or commercial success. But as a virtual driving fan I wish them all well, and am happy to own them all. Yeah, I like the horizon branch of forza better myself. I'll do a bit of circuit racing like you find in GT, Forza, PCARS, AC however I vastly prefer 'open world' race games. Going round and round a track gets boring and I think this is why people like the horizon games and other similar games.

Sure they are less realistic but they are great fun.I own most of the games too. I wouldn't have bothered with an XBONE if not for Forza Horizon since I already had PS4.I was late to the game but bounced off Horizon 3 pretty early on. As soon as I was able to build a Skyline 2000GT-R that would go 190 MPH, on any surface, it got really boring. What are you all's thoughts on a new wheel these days? I currently use a G27 setup with Bodner cable on the pedals for PC use. I have a PS4 and Xbone, but don't playing racing games too often on them.

Dirt 3 Release Date

I don't play enough, but i enjoy iRacing the most.I could keep the G27 pedals w/ bodner cable so i don't necessarily need new pedals. Is there a sweet spot in the price/quality curve? The Fanatec 'CSL Elite Racing Wheel for Xbox One & PC' would be $389.

Here i'd have PC/Xbone compatibility and could get more into Forza. Forza is also on PC now though so that feels redundant.For the same price, there's the Thrustmaster T300RS which includes pedals. I'm not sure how they compare to the G27 pedals. This would give me PC/PS4 compatibility, but not xbone. I tend to favor the PS4 and would certainly enjoy some Gran Turismo if it ever comes out.For $440, there's the Thrustmaster TX Racing Wheel Leather Edition.Or i could keep the G27 and save toward a HTC Vive and go VR.:-D. I don't own the Vive or Rift, but spent a few weekends with both of them and games like pCARS, DiRT Rally and Assetto Corsa.To sum it up: yes, the immersion of VR is pretty awesome, but no this generation of headsets is too compromised to really enjoy unequivocally.Cons:-For me the main problem is headset resolution.

Things within a few meters look pretty good (with a GTX1080 and supersampling set high enough) but it all gets very blurry off into the distance, and that includes the track ahead.- After that we have irritations like the weight, and comfort. I wouldn't want to spend more than 10 minutes at a time racing, it's just not comfortable enough on the eyes or the head.- Also using them with glasses (which I don't myself but friends do) adds more discomfort and also changes the scale of the visuals. Most games have a 'world scale' function which you can change accordingly (e.g.

Make everything 10% larger to accommodate the view with glasses) but some don't and you have to get used to everything being the wrong size. I'm not sure if contact lenses solve this or not.- finally nausea can also be a problem, if the game makes the car model move relative to your head. Most games can be set to lock your head to the car and have the world around the car move, which feels fine. But if it throws an effect like a jolt moving your head around relative to the vehicle which doesn't feel natural then nausea can hit hard and immediately. Games like pCARS have a bunch of settings to dial out anything which could induce nausea, but for instance DiRT Rally didn't have those settings and very occasionally caused heavy nausea during play.

I'm seriously tempted to try the Pimax 4K headset, which has had some pretty good reviews. The only downside is that although it senses head rotation, there's no head tracking so you can't stick your head out of the window. But for racing (or Elite) it looks like a pretty good dealThe lack of head tracking might, however, induce horrible nausea. Are there any reviews talking about that side of things?From my point of view if you only get head rotation and not head tracking then the immersion factor will drop considerably. The cool stuff like looking out the window is just an edge case, but being able to lean around a bit is key to actually feeling like you are there in the car rather than just acting as a static camera.Leaning to look past objects, leaning over to view smaller text on the speedometer are things you do automatically in all sims.

Some sims (but sadly not all) even draw the rear view mirror image based upon your head location so you can lean to get a better view through the mirror in a way which feels very natural. Well, I have a already, but we're moving and that means I can ditch the not very good RennSport stand v2 and get a proper cockpit for the wheel. I guess no one makes a playseat or racing cockpit that's already drilled to accept the CSW v2?Edit - Pokrface turned me onto the Obutto cockpits.

Look pretty decent, they don't have an annoying bar in between your legs, and it's significantly cheaper than buying Fanatec's new cockpit (since they sell the bloody seat separately).I am late in this reply but I had a CSW v2 mounted directly to a R3volution. It was sturdy and comfortable (did a 12 hour team event in it). Well after too many years the moment has finally come where you can buy a wheel set which will support both PS4 and Xbox One.Basically the wheelbase includes PS4 capability, and you get a rim with PS buttons on it. But switch to the P1 rim and it will work with Xbox One.Yes, the price of entry is €620 for the CSL-Elite-PS4 wheelbase with rim plus the 2-pedal CSL set as a bundle (€520), and adding the P1 rim (€100). But it's the only option around if you happen to want to use a single wheel on both consoles, and simply swap rims. And given the capabilities of the wheelbase, this is actually really good value for money too.

Insanely expensive unless you take your sim racing extremely seriously.$799 Australian for just the wheel base and PS4 rim and pedal set with no clutch (CSL Elite)Add $149.90 for an xbone CSL Steering Wheel P1 rim or an eye-watering $669.80 for the ClubSport Steering Wheel GT Forza Motorsport rimMeanwhile you can get both the T150 and TMX wheels with change leftover from $640 AU. The TMX is bundled with the T3PA pedals by most retailers here too, not the 2 pedal set.All true. But the CSL Elite comes in at 3x the FFB power of the T150/TMX or G29 (roughly 2Nm versus 6Nm) and that makes quite a difference if you want more realism in the way the FFB depicts actual steering rack forces.

Furthermore the CSL Elite is going to have less resistance in the drive mechanism, allowing better portrayal of nuances of FFB.A wheel upgrade like this probably won't make you faster, but it will definitely make it easier to be more consistent. As would a set of pedals with a load cell (or at least some kind of progressive brake resistance). I personally think the TMX and T150 have enough ForceFeedback strength (and I've driven heavy old 60's Ford Falcons, 70's Holden Kingswoods and Torana's as well as Leyland Mini's and an old 'shovel nose' Toyota Corona so I know what 'armstrong steering' is all about). I'd go with higher quality pedals before I went with a more expensive wheel.

I quite like the looks of the various inverted pedal sets myself, puts the pedals closer to where you expect to find them in a real car.Honestly though, even the cheap pedals that come with the T150 are pretty good once you tame their wandering ways, the brake pedal gets progressively harder to push the lower you go - it's no load cell system, probably some rubber inside the base, but it works.Frankly I don't think any simulator pedals accurately mimic the brake pedal yet. What is needed IMO is a motor that pushes against the pedal in response to the driver pushing down and can also suddenly give way.

First 1/8 inch or needs to be loose, then firm most of the way down and fades over time like a real brake. Got Dirt Rally loaded up finally after the last Humble Bundle gifted it to me.

Downloaded the latest firmware for my G920 wheel after hooking it up to the PC.Found the car pretty much unresponsive with both steering and braking; was getting crazy frustrated feeling like something was horribly wrong. Went into the settings and tweaked everything so full left/right lock was a 180 degree rotation (40% sensitivity) and the brake was down to 60%. Tried again and it suddenly felt great.too great.Was up til 3am racing.Holy crap what a fantastically intense game.

I love that there is a reset option and appreciate that the damage remains and the time penalties add up QUICK. I do miss the action of trying to squeeze through traffic but the cliff edge being.just over there. kept my knuckles white the whole time and more than made up for it.I only got first on one section of a race; averaged 4th/5th the rest of the time but it was enough to land me in 3rd overall after the full race! I got a second car unlocked and started racing it only to discovery there's a huuuuge difference between a 100hp tiny car and a 240hp monster.Gah, i lubs you racing machine! Honestly, the picks are a lot about personal preference.So true. I have PCars, F1 2016, and Assetto Corsa.

I do the best in PCars. Perhaps I have it tuned better, but I find it easier to tune the cars in this game, than I do in the others. It could just be because I have so much more time in PCars. Definitely looking forward to PCars2.

It does take a certain amount of time to dial a setup in to your abilities/style, and I think I find that the most frustrating when getting a new racer. I just want it to fit me with the defaults, and that just isn't reasonable.

Anyone here pick up Dirt 4?I grabbed it and it unlocked yesterday evening for me, first impressions are positive. I played through the first chunk of rally races and Landrush in the career mode.It definitely seems more focused on being a good racing game rather than 'extreme' like Dirt 3 was, though I'm not sold on the team building stuff, seems distracting.

The driving itself feels like a toned back Dirt Rally. I am able to comfortably play with a controller which I never figured out in Dirt Rally, which is good, since my wheel is 1500 miles away. I have not tried out simulation handling, but I gather that is quite similar to Dirt Rally's handling.I think it will be a fun game, and maybe get me to stop playing Forza Horizon 3 endlessly. I also preordered it for Steam.

However my PC isn't easy to get at right at the moment so it might be a while before I can actually try itFirst impressions around the web are positive. The course generator isn't perfect, but it has come a heck of a long way from the tile-based systems of the early days. Solid replayability is there.There are some concerns about a bug in the Rally gravel physics, so a patch may well arrive for that. And if you are on PC remember to download the latest Nvidia or AMD drivers which add optimizations for DiRT 4.

Wow, I never even knew this thread existed!When I was younger I had a whole nice setup for driving games, but once I moved I sold it all because of space issues. Now I have a hankering for a driving game, but I don't want a large investment of a wheel/pedals. But at the same time I don't want a super arcadey racer. So, whats the best bet(using a controller, not super arcadey) racing game?

Mind you, I haven't played a racing game in.oh.8/9 years? I have access to PC/PS4/Xbox fwiw.Best currently available driving sim on a controller, I would have to give the nod to Forza Motorsport 6. Honestly, you could make the argument that FM6 is better on a controller than wheel.

The drawback is there isn't a whole lot of actual game to it. The 'career mode' isn't much more than a race counter. But there are a ton of cars, and they handle pretty reasonably. If you want to go a little more arcadey, Forza Horizon 2 and 3 are both great games, tons and tons of cars, as well, but with much more career mode and actual game stuff going on. (Horizon 2 is more structured as a game, while Horizon 3 is more choose whatever the heck you feel like doing.)-As for the Forza Motorsport 7 introductions and videos. Well, they're striking all the right chords with me.

Better wheel support, better driving, better career mode, more focused on drivers, dynamic weather and track conditions. That all is pretty huge.

Did anyone notice they're calling it a Xbox One X launch title, but are actually releasing it a month before the One X is available? That's kind of. Yeah, for mainstream driving games, Gran Turismo and Forza series have always been the big two, and you would choose based upon preference for Playstation or Xbox. But recently things have been changing.Sadly Gran Turismo is rather absent (GT Sport is the first PS4 title, coming this year but focus on online racing and low car count). While Forza has branched out to circuit racing (Motorsport) and open world (Horizon), offering massive car counts and the same collecting, tuning, painting experience as always. In fact, Forza now supports Windows 10 PCs in addition to Xbox One.If you aren't so much into car collecting, and prefer an immersive racing experience, then the 'new' kid on the block is Project CARS.

This is on all 3 platforms, has a larger focus on realism and race cars. It also has fully dynamic weather and time of day, simulates race weekends including qualifying, has considerably better AI opponents than the other two, and is of course less accessible as a result.

Controller support is also a bit less polished than say Forza, because it's a sim at heart and has much better FFB wheel support than the other two.Right now Forza Horizon 3 open world is a worthy purchase and a lot of fun, tooling around their mini Australia.For track driving, Forza Motorsport 6 and pCARS 1 are both at the end of their lifecycle, to be replaced by FM 7 and pCARS 2 in September/October. So they will be cheaper to purchase but the replacements will be out soon. Gran Turismo is absent and not worth bothering with.A left field choice would be to look at DiRT Rally or DiRT 4, which are both great examples of the Rally genre and easily as worth your time as the other games listed above. DiRT 4 in particular is getting big praise for the controller usability, right up there with Forza.Oh, and if you want to just try one out and you have a decent Windows 10 gaming PC, you could just download Forza Motorsport 6 Apex from the Windows Store. It's free to play and has parts of the Forza Motorsport experience on offer. You don't get the tuning, but you do get to try out a broad selection of cars and some tracks. A left field choice would be to look at DiRT Rally or DiRT 4, which are both great examples of the Rally genre and easily as worth your time as the other games listed above.

DiRT 4 in particular is getting big praise for the controller usability, right up there with Forza.Speaking of that, I went on Steam last weekend with every intention of buying DiRT 4. And then chickened out after reading some of the mixed reviews. How close to DiRT Rally would you call the DiRT 4 simulation steering? There seemed to be a lot of dissenting opinions. You know, it's really hard to find trustworthy reviews for driving sims.

Opinions are almost always all over the board. What feels right to one person just doesn't to another. It's so tough to quantify results.So, instead as I was thinking about DiRT 4, I ended up noticing Automobolista was on sale, and bought it. But for a totally different reason.

I'm going to be out of town for work for a few weeks, and only have a DX10 laptop and XB1 controller available. Decent processor, but not gaming video.

I was pretty well resigned to just playing a few old titles and retro arcade stuff. But apparently controllers and potato graphics don't seem to be a problem for Automobolista. So, Super Trucks, here I come.

This patch will Update DiRT 3 to version 1.2.Changes in version 1.02:. Resolved an issue which could prevent the user successfully saving with profiles that contained unicode characters. UI elements are no longer incorrectly displayed in Gymkhana. Improvements to input system, supporting multi-device action maps.